Joystick Mods - Supergun / MC Cthulhu

[shmuppyLove]

Does anyone have a stick they've modded for an MC Cthulhu and a supergun?

I'm thinking it should just be as simple as wiring up two different connectors - one will be an RJ45 for the different console cables on the Cthulhu, and the other will be a HD15 or whatever for the supergun (my supergun just has terminals for controls, no connectors). All the controls will be wired up to barrier strips inside the stick, and then from there will be two sets of wires, one to the Cthulhu and the other to a female HD15 jack.

Anyone done this, or see any potential issues?

[Zapf]

I knew one stick maker (ecksnine) that did dual cthlhu/neo geo or supergun connector on his stick. As long as you don't plug them both in at once, you should be OK. You can wire up a dpdt switch to make sure only one input is connected to 5v and ground if you want.

[alamone]

I did this with my HRAP EX SE. PS3/USB and stuff from the RJ45 jack works fine.
For the 15 pin, most arcade boards don't seem to care, but unfortunately some of my arcade boards
(Taito F3, Strikers 1945) don't seem to like the arrangement - I get random inputs and/or no response.
Later I will try adding a switch in so I can disconnect the ground from the MC Cthulhu chip.

[alamone]

After experimenting w/ a ground disconnect switch (didn't help)
I just decided to take out the MC Cthulhu chip (works fine now obviously).
It looks like having the wires connected in parallel to the MC Cthulhu causes
problems with certain arcade boards, so I will just use the MC Cthulhu
as an external converter rather than having it wired in the stick.
If there was an easy way to switch 15 wires at a time, I could keep
it inside the stick, but I don't really know of any good way to do that.

[shmuppyLove]

Darn, I was just about to attempt this on the weekend.

I kind of wondered if there would be issues though. And yes, switching all 15 lines, I was trying to wrap my head around that one too

[Barrakketh]

And yes, switching all 15 lines, I was trying to wrap my head around that one too

Project box. Wire up the stick with a DB-15/DB-25 connector, build a project box with a MC Cthulhu in it with one matching connector on one end and a RJ-45 or USB (if you're just using it for the 360/PC) on the other. Then just sort out how you'll be connecting it to your supergun, either through wiring a cable to the terminals or installing a connector.

Alternatively, check this out for keeping things inside the stick. Toodles is the same guy that made the Cthulhu/Chimp boards.

[alamone]

Yeah, like I said, basically making the converter external, which works but isn't as tidy.

I can vouch for the FGWidget Converter, I used one to make a saturn to neo-geo converter.
It does seem a bit silly to convert from neo-geo to PSX (or Saturn or SNES) and back to neo-geo,
which is basically what you would be doing if you use a FGWidget. But if you go the FGWidget route,
you would also be able to use pads and sticks from the specific console (PSX or Saturn or SNES) on your
supergun, which is an added bonus. The FGWidget does need +5V, so you would have to reserve
one line on your 15 or 25 pin connector for the +5V.

[shmuppyLove]

I think I'll end up building another stick ... 4 isn't too many, right?

Actually that would make 5, but two are the same (good ol' Super Advantage!)

I have a spare JLF and 8 PS-14-KNs ... maybe I'll try my hand at buliding a tuppergun

[Mr Halibut]

Apologies for the 2 year bump, I was looking into getting a MC Cthulhu & Supergun mod done on a single stick, but I stumbled across this thread and alamone's post has scared me a bit. I am wondering if the problems described might have been fixed in a firmware update since this stuff was first posted. Has anyone successfully done a mod like this recently?

[alamone]

I think I remember asking toodles about this and he said that if you provide the MC with +5V there shouldn't be any problems.
In my case I did not wire +5V to the MC when using it wired in parallel with a supergun, so that might be the source of the problem.

[undamned]

I think I remember asking toodles about this and he said that if you provide the MC with +5V there shouldn't be any problems.
In my case I did not wire +5V to the MC when using it wired in parallel with a supergun, so that might be the source of the problem.

Haha, Toodles is always saying that the "golden rule" of dual modding is power everything.
-ud

[Mr Halibut]

Well the stick was done with the 5v connected, and I just got a Strikers 1945 PCB to test it. I played for about 15-20 minutes with no problems that I can see. Alamone- how long do you normally need to play for this problem to show up? Should I expect to see it by now?

[alamone]

The problem the controls not responding would show up right away,
so if you played for 10 minutes without any problem, it sounds like you are good to go.

[Mr Halibut]

Great!

[SunJammer]

so I currently have a MC Cthulhu stick, if I wanted to add neo geo / supergun support to it could i just add an FGWidget? The Cthulhu is currently connected via RJ45 to the first output row, so i was thinking i could wire up the FGWidget to row 2 thusly: (FGW on the left, MCC on the right)

GND - G
N/C - A
ACK - B
ATT - C
CMD - D
DAT - E
CLK - F
VCC - V

so the FGW "thinks" it's connected to a saturn controller. Am I missing anything here?

[alamone]

Not sure if that's the correct wiring, first time I did it I ended up wiring the row backwards heh.
But the concept is sound, this is what I do to use one of my sticks with a MC Cthulhu RJ45 jack to interface it with a supergun
(using a FGwidget as an intermediate decoder for a sega saturn RJ45 cable).
Assuming your supergun outputs +5V on the appropriate neo-geo pin, you can get +5V to power the FGwidget from there.

[shmuppyLove]

Edit: Derp, this is my thread and I said exactly the same thing already lol

Disregard, imma go back to soldering. DAT SMOKE